Giants Show That Free Agent Dollars Are Better Spent On Hitters

With baseball's
winter meetings on tap for this week, teams will be looking
to fill holes on their rosters through free agency and trades.

But a look at the roster of the San Francisco Giants shows that
may not always be the best path to a world championship.

On the surface, it looks like the Giants put together their 2010
roster, with an opening day payroll of $97.8 million, through
equal parts free agency and drafting, with a dash of trades.

During the season, the Giants utilized 15 players that they
drafted. Those players combined to contribute 22.8 Wins Above
Replacement* (WAR). Meanwhile the 20 players that were acquired
via free agency were worth 24.7 WAR.

Here is the full breakdown...

But where this gets interesting is if we break this down by
pitchers and hitters. That's where we see a very clear picture of
how the Giants built a winning roster...

What we see is that free agency was much more important in the
success of the hitters with players like Andres Torres (6.0 WAR)
and Aubrey Huff (5.7 WAR). On the other hand, Buster Posey was
the only drafted position player to contribute more than one win
(3.9 WAR).

We see just the opposite pattern from the pitchers. The Giants
strong pitching was built in large part through the draft with
players like Tim Lincecum (5.1 WAR) and Matt Cain (4.0 WAR). Only
one pitcher acquired through free agency was worth at least one
win. Surprisingly, that was Barry Zito (2.1 WAR). But with an
$18.5 million salary, he was still highly overpaid.

It is no secret that winning in baseball requires strong
pitching. But as the Giants showed last season, teams may be
better off spending their free agent dollars on hitters and
developing their own pitchers.